The first Madam President will be sworn in sooner than most people think. But the gender gap in politics is still shockingly broad, say two of America's most readable political commentators in this timely look at the nation's sputtering efforts to envision a woman in America's top job.(The Boston Globe ). Charting the transformation of women's power in American politics from the first female presidential candidate (Victoria Woodhull in 1872) to the shattered presidential hopes of Shirley Chisholm and Elizabeth Dole, Madam President presents tales of passion, determination, set-backs, and triumph from nearly all national women politicians and most leading state politicians in the pipeline. With insight garnered from years on the Washington political scene and candid interviews with leading politicians like Christine Todd Whitman and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Clift and Brazaitis explain why the barriers to women are still formidable: There are only 3 female governors (one of the best routes to the White House) and at the current rate it will take 250 years before there are as many women Senators and Representatives as men. A forward-looking, savvy analysis of women in politics, Madam President gives the first inside look at how America's female politicians got there, stayed there, and what it will take for them to make it to the presidency.

When Madam President moves into the Oval Office of the White House, she will share a path that several women have helped to pave. Often left off the history pages—and out of the minds of many Americans—are the presidential bids of several women: Margaret Chase Smith, 1964; Shirley Chisholm, 1972; Patricia Schroeder,1988; Elizabeth Dole, 2000; Carol Moseley Braun 2004; and Hillary Clinton, 2008/ 2016. Still Paving the Way for Madam President shows the progress women candidates have made as they have moved from symbolic candidates to viable candidates and in 2016, the Democratic nominee. This study shines a light on the persistent obstacles that face women candidates and offers insight into what it will take to finally shatter the seemingly impenetrable political glass ceiling.

Catherine Thimmesh’s inspiring look at the role of women in American politics—past, present, and future—is now available with updated sections on Hillary Rodham Clinton, Condoleezza Rice, and Nancy Pelosi. From the time our government was being formed, women have fought their way from behind the scenes to the center of power and decision making. So, why not a woman in the White House? Two thousand eight may be the year!

This book examines perhaps the most contentious election in modern US history—the 2016 United States presidential election. It is unique in its discussion of a wide range of issues affecting the news media coverage of the election, coming from an equally diverse range of intellectual perspectives including the rhetorical, social-scientific, communication studies, and media studies. With eleven chapters grounded in hard evidence and communication theory, The 2016 American Presidential Campaign and the News: Implications for American Democracy and the Republic examines significant topics such as fake news, media construction of Hillary Clinton’s and Donald Trump’s campaign personalities, media bias, visual meme depictions of the candidates, identity politics in the news, Trump’s Twitter use, entertainment news, and social media as news. These chapters individually and collectively provide a direct commentary on the implications of the 2016 campaign news coverage for the future of the American Republic and political communication in the media.

This edited collection explores a wide range of communication elements and themes, representing a variety of topics and methodologies. It focuses broadly on the role and function of communication within the context of the 2016 United States presidential election, with chapters devoted to topics including an overview of the election from a communication perspective, the nominations, strategies of campaign visits, the impact of gender in the campaign, the impact of WikiLeaks, front page election coverage, messaging and performance of third-party candidates, Trump’s campaign announcement address, and Clinton’s concession speech. This is an eclectic collection that makes a significant contribution to current understandings of the various roles of communication in the historic presidential election of 2016.

Gender, Heteronormativity and the American Presidency places notions of gender at the center of its analysis of presidential campaign communications. Over the decades, an investment in gendered representations of would-be leaders has changed little, in spite of the second- and third-wave feminist movements. Modern candidates have worked vigorously to demonstrate "compensatory heterosexuality," an unquestionable normative identity that seeks to overcome challenges to their masculinity or femininity. The book draws from a wide range of archived media material, including televised films and advertisements, public debates and speeches, and candidate autobiographies. From the domestic ideals promoted by Eisenhower in the 1950s, right through to the explicit and divisive rhetoric associated with the Clinton/Trump race in 2016; intersectional content and discourse analysis reveals how each presidential candidate used his or her campaign to position themselves as a defender of traditional gender roles, and furthermore, how this investment in "appropriate" gender behaviour was made manifest in both international and domestic policy choices. This book represents a significant and timely contribution to the study of political communication. While communication during presidential elections is a well-established research field, Aidan Smith’s book is the first to apply a gendered lens over such an extended historical period and across the political spectrum.

The need for American presidential candidates and sitting presidents to connect with citizens has led to the adoption of diverse media strategies that include traditional news initiatives with established journalists, face-to-face interaction with small groups of supporters, and visits to traditionally non-political entertainment-based venues. The American Presidency and Entertainment Media: How Technology Affects Political Communication examines the recent embrace of entertainment forums for political purposes. Featuring interviews with White House insiders and late night talk show veterans, this book analyzes the major moments in the presidency’s increasingly cozy relationship with entertainment-based television shows and the major factors leading individual administrations and campaigns to take chances to reach largely non-political audience. It offers a new theoretical underpinning for this phenomenon, predicts how future campaigns will operate in this regard as media technology and American political culture evolve, and connects the marriage of politics and televised entertainment to the ascension of Donald Trump to the presidency.